vp 540 Disconnect

Hello! My VP disconnects while is printing. At first i didn't care because it was not as often as it is now. Below is a list of things i have tried and none of fixed the issue.

New pc (good specs)

New ethernet cable

Network ON/OFF

Same Subnet mask

Same IP

The odd part of story:

I did notice cold days the disconnections were more often so i thought it has something to do with the temperatures and the printer struggles to get them.

So i send a small file for print and after a while, it stopped and disconnected, then i changed the "print and dryer" temperatures to OFF, send the same file for print and all good.

After that i called 2 technicians from different companies that support roland plotters and both told me the same thing. "this is a common problem on the VPs, go unplug the fan that goes to your main board and you are going to be ok, its a bug" I was blown away.. So i unplugged the fan (power OFF) then i set the"print and dryer" temperatures up and send 2 big files that were printed without any problem.

My only concern is, now the fan is unplugged if the temperatures get too high will the heat damage the main board?

Replies to This Discussion

Not sure about the fan deal since the disconnection seems to be ethernet related but I know when mine was doing the dreaded disconnect in the end after trying countless things the fix was replacing the main board.

I chased that bug for months trying every single suggestion I came across. Various things seemed to fix it for awhile then it would come back. With some of the "fixes" I was able to print 80+ ft of vinyl without a problem but the issue always came back until it got to the point of disconnecting constantly. I finally replaced the board and haven't had a single disconnect since.

John is your printer still running ok with fan unplugged? I'm troubleshooting this issue myself now and ready to take the main board in for repair but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to do that.

Until now everything works fine. I don't know until when, but this "trick" earned me some time. You have nothing to lose trying it. If it doesn't work for you just plug it back, try something new or get a new board. Good luck!

PS what do you mean "take the main board for repair"? repair what? its not like a fuse is blown or an adaptor...

I had read in several places that it can be corrected by replacing the realtek chip on the board. I lined up a guy that can do it for me, I figure the worst that can happen is I'm out a few bucks, if I need to replace the board anyway. However, this morning I unplugged the fan as you suggested, and maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me but I'm pretty sure I just printed a 48" x 36" poster without stopping. I would have never guessed that it had anything to do with the fan. I'm not holding my breath just yet but it's been a LONG time since I could print a large print without having to warm the room up to 75 first.

Nothing fancy just by touching the back side of the printer where the main power switch is, but you can get really accurate by putting digital thermometer inside or outside the mainboard area. Also you can keep your printer with the back covers open, at least while you are printing (to keep the temperature low) and when you finish put the covers back to protect the board from dust.